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Aberdeen Angus Cattle Breeding:
Perth bull sales, October 2004
James Irvine
Teviot Scientific, Cultybraggan Farm, Comrie,
Perthshire
Filed 27 Oct 04
©www.land-care.org.uk
The Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society - along
with some other cattle societies in the UK - have now formally adopted
the BREEDPLAN method of estimating the potential commercial performance
of pedigree cattle.
The advantage of this system - which was
developed in Australia and is now adopted in many countries throughout
the world - is that it can cater for a large number of traits that
are genetically based. Brazil and Argentina are said to be interested
and indeed may already be involved.
BREEDPLAN is based on computer modelling and it
is claimed that it can be programmed for any trait that has a genetic
basis. It was developed in association with university expertise
in information technology. However, as with any model, the value
of the product depends on the quality of the information that is
put in. The statistical evaluation of that information is greatly
enhanced by the quantity of the data available. In Australia quantity
of information about cattle is not a problem with the number of
cattle in many herds being in the thousands.
The programme can be adapted to any pedigree breed.
Bob Freer (Figure 1), an independent livestock
consultant based in Australia but well known internationally, addressed
members of the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society and their guests on
the occasion of the October Perth Bull Sales. Back in 2002, Brian
Sundstrom of BREEDPLAN gave a paper at the Aberdeen Angus Cattle
Society's buildings in Perth which helped to convince the Society
of the merits of joining the scheme (1).
Figure 1
Bob Freer, livestock consultant
talking to the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society about BREEDPLAN
(For enlargement Click Here)
Photo ©James Irvine, Kimpton Graphics
Up to the present time the Estimated
Beef Value (EBV) of pedigree cattle within the UK has been based
on the programme devised many years ago by the Meat and Livestock
Commission (MLC) and executed by Signet. It includes a number of
traits that are most involved with getting as much meat from a beast
as possible, with an emphasis on leanness. Critics of the UK EBV
system argue that it is directed to the commodity market, there
being no evaluation as to the eating quality of the meat. Over the
years there has been little development of the programme.
Certainly looking round the many
breeds on show and for auction at this year's Perth Bull Sales,
great emphasis is still be placed on bulls having big back ends
- big rumps (bums). In the commodity market it is these bulls that
are likely to be more financially rewarding when it comes to selling
their progeny for beef.
nn
Figure 2:
Auctioneer David Leggat with his eye on the bidder
for a prize Aberdeen Angus bull
(For enlargement Click Here)
Photo ©James Irvine, Kimpton Graphics
But there is a growing need amongst the public
- certainly amongst those who have money to spend - for beef which
has good and consistent eating quality. There is a perception
among many that the beef available at most supermarkets is of
inferior eating quality. The meat is in the supermarkets to make
the supermarket maximum profit. The supermarkets are aware what
price most of their customers are prepared to pay for beef and
will pay the producer as little as possible. This means that most
producers are forced into low cost production systems. It is alleged
that the situation can be made even more dire for producers when
the supermarkets indulge in using what they call "red meat"
as loss leaders, thereby attracting customers into their stores
to buy highly profitable items.
The supermarkets largely dictate the standard
of eating quality which their customers have come to expect, simply
by the fact that the supermarkets have such a dominant hold on
the market for commodity beef. But the supermarkets can get their
commodity beef from elsewhere - Argentina or Brazil for example
- where the cost of production is much less than in the UK. By
obfuscating the labelling the customer is often unaware of the
origin of the beef that he/she is buying, or indeed of the quality
assurance standards involved in terms of such matters as animal
welfare, quality assurance and the like.
Figure 3:
A pedigree Aberdeen Angus heifer has just had her calf at Cultybraggan,
while an in-calf Limousin heifer looks on.
How this calf will develop will depend in considerable part on
its genetics.
Different genetic traits can be statistically predicted using
computer modelling,
if there is sufficient information about both the sire and the
dam.
.(For enlargement Click Here)
Photo ©James Irvine, Kimpton Graphics
Those customers who wish to buy Scottish, English
or Welsh beef at its best need to look elsewhere than supermarkets.
For this purpose it is to be remembered that the best part of
the animal for eating quality is not its rump, but its back.
Also the over-enthusiasm for lean meat engendered
decades ago by the medical profession is now substantially countered
by the followers of the Atkins diet (2),
where high protein with high fat but low carbohydrate has been
found to be highly advantageous and enjoyable for many who are
obese or have a tendency to become so.
Although long denied by the MLC, much of the
rest of the world acknowledges that marbling in beef is a major
factor contributing to the quality of taste (3).
Those who find the Atkins diet effective in controlling their
weight can enjoy marbling in beef - and the taste that goes with
it - as much as they fancy.
With the change in emphasis over relatively
recent years towards trying to get Aberdeen Angus cattle to look
like those of the continental Limousin breed (notorious for big
bums), it is possible that the genes that influence tenderness
may have become disadvantaged. It is therefore important to have
a breeding index that takes account of marbling genes, so as to
avoid the possibility of Aberdeen Angus cattle losing their international
reputation for tasty beef in the pursuit of quantity rather than
quality.
Unfortunately Bob Freer was a little less than
clear about what BREEDPLAN accredited ultrasound scanning technicians
can achieve with regard to quantitating intramuscular fat in the
live animal, that corresponds to marbling in the beef bought by
the consumer. My understanding was that Brian Sundstrom of BREEDPLAN
was much more precise on the matter (1).
Even more worrying is what genetic traits the
Aberdeen Angus Cattle Society is going to include in its tailor-made
version of BREEDPLAN's EBV. This is currently being drawn up,
but I am informed that it will not include marbling. From my point
of view that undermines much of the purpose of adopting BREEDPLAN.
Apparently there are other difficulties in these
initial stages. One of them is to get scanning technicians in
Scotland who are trained and accredited to the standards required
by BREEDPLAN.
It is sad to reflect that the UK - and particularly
Scotland - has now to look to Australia for expertise on the genetics
of cattle breeding. Quite apart from prestige, the intellectual
property involved must be substantially economically rewarding
to Australia. As recently emphasised by Professor John Hillman,
there is a real danger of UK farming missing out on major opportunities
for its revival unless the academic base leading to financially
rewarding intellectual property is revitalised (4).
Hopefully the teething problems of BREEDPLAN
as applied to the UK - and particularly in relation to Scotland's
famous Aberdeen Angus cattle - will soon be overcome. But in the
UK the powers that be cannot afford to hang about, as breeders
in some of the world's largest cattle-producing countries are
- or shortly will be - using essentially the same programme for
genetic modellling.
Six years ago my company, Teviot Scientific,
bought for its farm at Cultybraggan, Comrie, Perthshire a substantial
portion of the the Tullyfergus herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle from
Robert Groom who was emigrating to continue to develop Angus breeding
in the USA (5, 6). A
good part of that herd contained American type genetics which
places much emphasis on eating quality through marbling. These
lines continue at Cultybraggan Farm. While things have moved on
in the States, UK breeders are still thinking about eating quality
and wondering if there is a market for it.
In stead, as Bob Freer put it
"the UK has developed cattle tracing
as an art form".
He could have added that it has squandered its
opportunities with the enforcement of over-regulation, but as
a guest he was too polite to do so.
Alsp, he must have wondered why, in the face
of the animal disease disasters in the UK that have arisen from
neglecting scientific input, the UK is making further cuts which
affect R & D in agriculture. But he must have been inwardly
smiling as his native Australia takes its rewards to the bank.
James Irvine
©www.land-care.org.uk
References
1. Sundstrom, Brian (2002).
BREEDPLAN - Australian based international beef cattle genetic
evolution programme.
See SCIENCE Homepage, filed 2002, www.land-care.org.uk
Click
Here to View
2. Irvine, James (2004). The
Atkins Diet: at last farmers should be able to breed cattle for
tasty beef again.
See FOOD Homepage, filed 22 Jan 04, www.land-care.org.uk
Click
Here to View
3. Burchell, Ed & Bryant,
Dean (2004). Juicy and tender?
http://www.roseda.com/RosedaBeef/juicytender.html Click
Here to View
4. Irvine, James (2004). Review
of RSE Scotland's Land Conference, September 30th
See SOCIAL/ECONOMIC/POLITICAL Homepage, filed 2002, www.land-care.org.uk
Click
Here to View
5. Groom, Robert, (2004). The
taste for beef in the USA: letter from America.
See FOOD Homepage, filed 26 Jan 04, www.land-care.org.uk
Click
Here to View
6. Baker, Mike (2003). Beef
cattle comments. Report on New York feeders conference.
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/beef/bcc0103.html Click
Here to View
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